Modern buildings cannot breathe
Kolkata-based architect Laurent Fournier tells how ceilings can float and why bamboo-reed-mud make more sense than brick-concrete-steel.
Mud
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MUDDY MATTERS
Chinese authorities and a dredging contractor are involved in a mud-slinging match. The government stopped the contractor, Gitanes Engineering, from dumping nearly 250,000 cu m of sludge in
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Chaotic response to calamity
The killer quake struck unexpectedli in the still of the night. Entire villages were flattened and thousands perished. Though rescue and relief were prompt, they were uncoordinated. And, several people just stood around watching
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Blow for mud builders
Mud housing enthusiasts received a blow recently when the Delhi High Court dismissed a writ petition by the Mud Village Society (MVS), staking claim to a 2.1 ha plot in East Delhi on which it
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Mud is a cost effective biulding material
Mud is on its way to becoming a popular and economically viable medium of constructon with the urban builder
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Mud housing is the key
Mud"s low cost and malleability makes it an ideal building material. But its use can be popularised only if such drawbacks as its susceptibility to moisture is overcome and misconceptions about mud housing are cleared.
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The building blocks of a movement
The first group to work seriously on stabilised mud blocks was based in Bangalore. Over the years, the group has achieved many s significant breakthroughs in mud technology.
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Dream that's failed
The Mud Village Society was conceived as a "habitat in consonance with the total ecosystem". But the highly touted project may never be implemented.
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The durability factor
Some mud houses built on the outskirts of Bangalore have developed cracks, raising doubts about the viability of mud as a building material. What went gone wrong?
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As strong as steel
Efforts to make mud suitable for constructing houses have been going on for years and there have been significant breakthroughs.
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Mud is the medium
ARCHITECTS hoped to establish mud as a viable building medium when they set out to build the country's first major environmentally-sound building. The mud headquarters in Delhi of Development